


Bloom! Episode 6 - Flight

by pashaimeru



Series: Bloom! [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Bad Ending, Corruption, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Magical Girls, Mind Control, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 18:35:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21593185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pashaimeru/pseuds/pashaimeru
Summary: Feathered wings, a beautiful song, flesh-rending talons. Even the Lilin have maternal instincts, twisted as they might be.
Series: Bloom! [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556194
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	1. True Path

Fleur had always kept her room tidy. Everything was in its right place; anything that she didn’t need anymore, she had thrown away. The pastel blue colour scheme of her carpet and her walls had long struck to her as childish, and she’d meant to have it changed, but recent events had made her reconsider. Coincidence or not, it matched her hair and outfit as a magical girl. Maybe it was alright to hold onto some childish whimsy, for the time being.

Though her room was large—twice the size of Sofia’s, easily—she seldom had friends over. For one, her mother had explicitly forbidden her from bringing guests over without her permission—which struck to Fleur as a rather pointless rule, considering how rarely her parents were home, anyway. But it wasn’t just that; she simply didn’t like the house that much. It didn’t quite feel like home. Then again, nowhere where Fleur had ever lived really had; most of her childhood was spent moving from city to city, from country to country due to her parents’ work.

Fleur’s parents had eventually agreed to settle down for a bit to let their daughter attend school in peace and to make some friends, and in Fleur’s mind, it was the best decision they’d ever made. Small as the town of White Hollow was, she had found her first real friends here in Sofia and Dot, and she finally felt like she had a place where she belonged. Ultimately though, her parents hadn’t stuck around for long; as soon as they’d made sure Fleur could fend for herself, they had started travelling the world again. It was a rare sight to see either of them home.

That was fine. Fleur had grown up fast and she knew how to take care of herself. She had a large enough allowance to eat out every day if she felt like it, but she had taught herself to cook anyway. A housekeeper came by a few times a week to take care of the house, which was a welcome help; though Fleur liked to clean, the house was far too big for her to take care of alone. Other than that though, Fleur spent most of her days alone, in the pointlessly large mansion where no-one was ever home.

“Good afternoon,” said the princess in the mirror, giving a proper little curtsey. She seemed curious about the room, her eyes wandering from corner to corner.

“Good afternoon, Trudi. First time here?” Fleur asked, sitting in front of her vanity.

“Well, yes! You’ve never invited me here before. It’s nice. It suits you, somehow.”

“I thought you might’ve taken a peek before,” Fleur said. “Out of curiosity, perhaps.”

Edeltrude looked a bit red on the face, shaking her head furiously. “I-I would not do that! I have not once appeared in anyone’s private quarters without making sure I was welcome, first!” she said, looking down at Fleur with a bit of a sad expression. “Did you think I was spying on you...?”

Fleur couldn’t help but to feel a little bad. Twisting her long, dark hair around her finger, she gave a vague shake of her head. “I’m sorry.“

The princess sighed. “It’s fine. I understand,” she said, smiling again a little bit. “So! You said you wished to talk in private.”

“...I heard Effie apologised to you already. How did that go?”

Edeltrude blinked. “Effie... Effie was angry, and I couldn’t possibly have faulted her for that. She was frustrated about not being strong enough, but... she was not entirely wrong. If I had done things better, perhaps everyone could’ve been saved. But I forgave her, and she forgave me. There was no harm done.”

Fleur nodded. “This is going to happen more in the future, isn’t it? There’s no chance we’ll catch every Lilin in time.”

“...That is probably the case.”

“This might sound presumptuous of me, but I think I’m better at handling this sort of a thing than Sofia or Effie are. Sofia is... too innocent. In the spite of all evidence, she always holds up hope that everything is going to end up alright. Even now, I’m not sure she’s truly accepted that the Lilin and her victims are gone. By her own hand, no less.” Fleur’s bit her lip before speaking. “...And Effie is still a child at heart, as mature as she seems sometimes. She thinks the world ought to be fair and she gets far too frustrated when it’s not.”

Edeltrude cast a worried look towards the raven-hair girl. “And you don’t?”

“It’s not like that.” Fleur shook her head. “I just want to find a solution that’s best for everyone. I want as few people as possible getting hurt. But I know that number isn’t going to be zero. And you know it too.”

The princess gave her a small, sad nod.

“Sofia talked about it yesterday. She pointed out how much you’ve lost already. Your mother, your friends, your whole world. How many died? How many were turned into Lilin? Which was worse?”

There was no answer. Edeltrude simply shook her head.

Fleur took a long breath. “I think you want to coddle us a bit, protect us from the truth. We’re your only hope, aren’t we? But you can’t bring yourself to tell us everything. Maybe it’s because you’re afraid it’d hurt us, or maybe because you think it’d scare us off from helping you. But I don’t need that. Our entire world is in danger. I’m not going to run away, no matter what.”

“I...” the princess said, her voice choked up. “I’m sorry.”

“And it’s not just that, is it?” Fleur said after a moment of thought. “You said you had a plan, but you haven’t told it to us. You haven’t fully explained the arrangement you have with that unpleasant fairy girl. Why keep those a secret?”

Edeltrude looked like she wanted to say something, but Fleur continued before she could manage to.

“It’s because telling us is a risk. The Lilin we’ve fought have all been different so far, but there’s one commonality amongst them: they all wield some power over hearts and minds. If one of us succumbs while knowing your secret plan, we would reveal it to them. And they would tell it to their masters, and they would tell your mother. You’ve prepared for the eventuality that one of us might lose. Keeping us ignorant is only a reasonable precaution.”

The room was quiet. Edeltrude said nothing for a while, but finally, she nodded. “It is as you say. I don’t want to deceive you. I only want what’s best for all. I’m sorry, Fleur...”

“No.” Fleur said. “Don’t apologise. You’ve probably made the right decision. Just tell me... there really is a plan, right? There must be. We’re fighting a losing battle otherwise. Defeating the Lilin is pointless if they simply keep making more.”

“T-there is! There is a way to defeat my mother! I just need time... and your help.”

Fleur smiled. “You’ll have it. Don’t worry, Trudi. I trust you.”

* * *

So. This was it, then. This was how it’d end.

Lia stared up towards the cloudless sky, considering her life so far. She had her regrets, but then again, who didn’t? At least she wouldn’t leave behind anyone who’d truly miss her. The most affected by her death would be the fellow members of the birdwatching forum, and she had never even met them in real life. It was an amusing enough thought to briefly distract her from the pain.

It hadn’t been smart to go climbing the mountain alone, especially without informing anyone of her whereabouts. It had been dumber still to keep going after her phone had died. Maybe she shouldn’t have been surprised; she’d done plenty of dangerous things in the past in an effort to spot a rare bird. A single misstep was all that it had taken, this time.

Lying at the bottom of a chasm, her shattered binocular lying next to her, she tried again to move. The blinding pain suggested it was more than just her legs that had been broken. She wished she were at least bleeding properly; that seemed like a much nicer way to go than lying here and starving to death. The chances of anyone stumbling upon her here in the wilderness were zilch...

“That looks painful,” came the voice behind her. “Such a poor thing. It’s a miracle you’re even conscious.” It was a pitying tone, sympathetic and soft.

“I can’t believe...” Lia said, taking a breath to calm herself. She hadn’t even realised how much her heart had been pounding. “I can’t believe there is someone else here. Please, you have to call for help. I can’t feel most of my body. I might be...”

“Shh,” said the voice. She crouched behind Lia, stroking her hair. Without ability to turn her neck, she couldn’t see her—but she could see her slender fingers and her long, green fingernails. There was something calming about her touch, but... but something unnatural as well. Something sinister. Who was she? How had she gotten to the bottom of this pit? It began dawning on Lia that she probably wasn’t human, and she wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“Am I going to die?” Lia asked.

“If you want to,” came the response. “I can offer you an alternative, however.”

So this is what it was all about. She understood the gist of it. “What is it going to cost?”

The girl with the green nails showed her. Lia fell silent.

“I wish you would’ve fallen close to something reflective,” the other girl said, sighing a bit. “It’s a bit dangerous, exposing myself like this. I’m taking a bit of a risk here, too, but I couldn’t simply let you die here alone. Not without giving you a chance to live... and to fulfil your dreams.”

“...Yeah. Thanks,” Lia said. The sky above looked bright and wide. She was feeling awfully wistful, now. “Okay. I’ll accept.”

There was a soft little laughter, gentle as morning dew. “I was hoping you would. Now, please close your eyes and relax...”

* * *

“So, what’s up?” Sofia asked.

The three magical girls once again found themselves sitting in front of the mirror in Sofia’s room. Dot had tagged along, bringing Grumpkin with her—she was sitting on the bed, her favourite plush on her lap, seemingly having the time of her life just being included. “Yeah! What’s it gonna be next? Are you guys going to fight any zombies?”

“N-no,” Edeltrude said, shaking her head a bit. “At least, I don’t think so...”

“Don’t mind Dot,” Effie said, glancing at her big sister. “Go on, we’re listening.”

The princess composed herself. “I sensed a new Lilin being born while you were at school, up in the mountains to the north. I can point you to the exact spot where she was at the time, but beyond knowing that they’re still up in the mountains, I am not sure about their whereabouts otherwise.”

Fleur blinked. “That’s still much more than usual. How come you know where it happened?”

“The... person who created the Lilin did so rather overtly this time. I suppose they did not use reflections.”

“You mean they were there? Actually present?” Sofia asked.

“No, not quite,” Edeltrude said. “The Heart’s power thankfully still prevents them from truly crossing over to this world. What they’re doing is more akin to... projecting themselves. Sending just enough of themselves to prod things along.”

Effie shrugged. “I guess that prevents us from kicking their butts.”

“Mountains, then? Not too many people live over there, but I suppose the Lilin still poses a threat,” Fleur said. The mountains north of White Hollow had some seasonal tourism over summers and winters, but few people lived there on a permanent basis. The girls weren’t strangers to the area; last summer, Sofia, Fleur and Dot had gone camping there, on the public campgrounds. This time of the year, they’d most likely be empty.

“That’ll be a nice change of pace. A walk in the nature instead of running around the city as usual,” Sofia said. “Ehehe, I should prepare us some snacks...”

“Oh! Oh, I’ll help!” Dot said, standing up in attention. “Actually, can leave it all to me! I’ll do the best I can!”

Effie beamed. “I’m looking forward to it!”

Edeltrude gave an absent-minded nod. “There’s another thing. The one who created the Lilin, her energy felt like...” she said, looking over the four girls in the room. Her shoulders slumped just a bit. “...like someone I used to know. I-I’m still not certain. It’s not important now. I’ll tell you later.”

Fleur frowned, but said nothing.

* * *

“Fleur, Effie, my legs hurt...”

“I’m getting a little tired too. Maybe... we should rest,” Fleur said, agreeing with Sofia.

“Jeez, you two. It’s only been an hour.” Effie gave a disapproving little pout. Looking at her like this, she really kind of did look like her big sister. Even her cheeks puffed up the same way. “Maybe you shouldn’t have packed so much! What’s the point of lugging all of that stuff around?”

“H-hey! It was a long bus trip here, I wanted to have something to do,” Sofia said, her tone defensive.

“But three books, a game console, headphones and a pillow? It’s not even travel sized!” Effie protested. “It’s not _that_ long of a trip!”

The three girls sat down on the rocks nearby, digging up their lunch boxes. Dot had taken her duty seriously. Tuna salad, triangular sandwiches, skewered vegetables and hand-made brownies; both Sofia and Fleur had expected something stranger from Dot, but it was a perfectly ordinary picnic meal.

“Climbing uphill is tiring, though...” Sofia said, looking up towards the cloudy sky. There was a cold breeze in the air: a proper autumn weather after the heatwaves from earlier this month. “Do you think we’ll find anything today?”

“Who knows,” Fleur said, thoughtfully sampling the salad. “We might have a better luck over the weekend. There’s only so much time we have today.” The girls had taken the bus to the mountains directly after school, but they’d agreed to suspend their search as soon as it started getting dark. Stumbling around in the mountains in the night would’ve been a terrible idea even if there weren’t a Lilin lurking around. Besides, they had their curfews. Well, Sofia and Effie did, at least.

“Don’t eat it all now,” Effie said, glaring at Sofia. “Save some for later!”

“Ehehe, I know. But it’s so good! I didn’t know Dot could make food like this. She always eats really weird stuff...”

Effie beamed. “She’s great when she puts her mind to it! She really thinks about others when she cooks for them.” Though Effie must’ve surely been the pride of the family, she had always looked up to her big sister. Her admiration for her was sincere, if a bit baffling.

“We should transform,” Fleur finally said. “We’re tiring ourselves out like this. This was a bad idea.”

The others nodded. They had agreed to avoid their magical girl forms for the time being to get the element of surprise on their side. They could detect the Lilin whether they were in their magical girl forms or not, so why alert them to their presence? As it turned out, though, there were certain advantages to being supernaturally strong and untiring.

“Bloom Change!” A flash of multihued light later, the trio were in their magical girl forms.

Sofia beamed. “Ah, so much better! I feel like I could run all the way up this mountain!.” She probably wasn’t exaggerating; the only time they had felt even remotely tired in these forms was when they had expanded all their magical energy. “Let’s go! Let’s get this Lilin and go home!”

Effie hit her fist against her palm. “Yeah! They can’t hide from us forever.”

“We’ll cover more ground if we split up. It could be dangerous, too,” Fleur said after a moment of hesitation. “But as long as we’re close enough to sense each other, it should be fine.”

One part of the training that Edeltrude had them do was to hone their senses. The primary purpose of it had been to learn to detect Lilin, but without having Lilin to practice with, they’d done so with each other. One of them would transform and hide, and the others would try to find her. Whether it had truly helped them to find Lilin was debatable, but they certainly had gotten better at picking up each other’s energies from distance. Sofia, in particular, seemed to have some talent with that.

“Got it!” Sofia said. Effie nodded, as well.

* * *

It took Fleur some focus to remain aware of the presence of her fellow Blooms. She could sense Sofia a fair distance to the east; Effie was uphill northwest, a bit ahead of the two. They were moving several times faster than they would’ve ever been able to in their normal forms, capable of running uphill and leaping over obstacles. It felt good—but they weren’t doing this for the fun of it.

There were black birds flying above her, cawing harshly. Ravens; not crows. Fleur could remember her biology teacher, Ms Swift, stressing that very point. Crows disliked higher elevations, so the birds up the mountainside were invariably ravens... ugh. She was getting distracted again; it took some genuine effort to stay focused on her friends’ magical signatures. Fleur stopped for a bit to gather her thoughts.

She didn’t notice the dark shadow swooping down at her, and by the time she felt the presence of the Lilin, it was already too late. There was an unearthly _screech,_ like no sound Fleur had ever heard. It hit her like a bolt of lightning: her body froze, her kneels felt weak and wobbly. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t speak, she could barely even think. Before she knew what had hit her, something had already snatched her from the ground, lifting her up into the air. Sharp talons had dug themselves into her shoulders, lifting her up by her armpits; powerful wings above her beat the air, lifting her higher and higher.

“Good things come to those who wait,” said the voice from above Fleur. There was a short burst of laughter, cruel and delighted. “Mistress told me you would come. I knew I was right in trusting her. We’re going to have so much fun together, my love.”

There was something about her voice that made Fleur’s body tingle and her head fill with static. She wanted to struggle. She wanted to zap the monster, alert her friends, do _anything_ , but she couldn’t move a muscle. She was dangling in the Lilin’s grip like an earthworm, limp and powerless. Higher and higher up into the air she went...

“Dream Wave!” came the voice from somewhere beneath her, so faint Fleur wasn’t certain if she had been imagining it.

She hadn’t. “Eh...?” said the Lilin, moments before screeching again, this time in pain. A basketball-sized boulder had hit her on her left wing, and she begun plummeting down, Fleur with her.

“Wish Attraction!” Torn from the monster’s talons, Fleur found herself flying through the air, not straight down but rather towards Sofia, her body still limp and weak. “W-wait, wait, wait...”

The pink-haired magical girl managed to catch her, though not particularly cleanly. Bloom Sky found herself rolling painfully down the hill with Hope, the sheer momentum of her falling body having been a bit too much for her to stop. Had they not been in their magical girl forms, they would’ve broken half the bones in their body—but like this, they could get away with mere bruises.

“Owwww...” Sofia whined, getting on her feet with wobbly legs. Fleur, too, managed to get some feeling back into her muscles. She couldn’t quite stand up yet, but the paralysing effect of the Lilin’s voice seemed to be subsiding.

“A... big... bird,” Bloom Sky said, her voice shaky. “In the... sky. Her voice... stuns...”

“Yeah! She was a lady with big wings. A-and...” Bloom Hope looked a bit red on the face. “No clothes. I don’t think I got her, yet.”

Sky bit her lip. “...Plug your ears with something.”

“Eh? It’s not like I brought earplugs with me. A-and, I’m not sure trying to stuff grass down my ears is going to be—”

“Burst...!” came Effie’s voice, some distance away. “Mete—hey! Come back here!”

There was another screech, giving the two girls goose bumps even from a distance. Fleur didn’t have to say anything. Sofia was already running towards the Lilin, leaving her behind to rub her feet and try to get them working again.

* * *

“G-guh...” Bloom Lux collapsed on her knees, her body shivering. The scream had taken all the fight out of her, not that she could do much to begin with. This was the most unfair opponent she’d ever faced. How was she supposed to kick someone who was just going to fly away?

“You’re such a cutie, too,” said the winged woman, hovering above the yellow magical girl. “I wonder, which one I should grab first? Don’t worry, there’s room for all three of you in the nest of the Crooning Peregrine!”

Lux gritted her teeth. The Peregrine was a tall woman, seemingly in her late thirties, without a thread of clothing to cover her. Strong, soft wings took the place of her arms, dull brown in colour, her wingspan easily longer than her body. In place of her feet she had yellow talons with flesh-rendingly sharp black nails, seemingly as dexterous as any fingers would’ve been. Her hair was long, wild and red; her body was curvaceous and mature, with wide hips and large breasts. Smoky, dramatic makeup drew one’s attention to her eyes—they were silver and piercing, two black pupils fixated on the young girl below. It was the stare of a predator looking at her prey, oppressive enough to give Lux the chills.

“Dream Wave!” A few fist-sized rocks flew towards the harpy-like woman, but she swooped to the side swiftly to avoid the barrage. Was Lux imagining it, though, or was there something awkward about that manoeuvre? It looked as if the Peregrine was favouring one wing over the other.

“That won’t work again, precious!” she said, beating the air with her dark brown wings and ascending higher. She looked at Sofia and drew a deep breath. The pink-haired magical girl quickly moved to block her ears—but she left herself open. With unnatural speed, the Lilin dove down, laughing as she grabbed the magical girl in her talons, tearing through her clothes and drawing some blood. With a pained cry, Bloom Hope was sent tumbling wounded down the hill. “Too slow! Too weak! A mouse cannot challenge a falcon!”

“B-Blast Bolide!” Lux tried, jumping up and trying to land a punch against her opponent mid-air. But the cry from earlier had sapped her strength, and she wasn’t as move as she thought she’d have been. With a laugh, the Lilin struck her wings together, the gust of wind alone enough to knock the small-framed girl back onto the ground.

She screeched again as Bloom Hope tried to get back up, both of the magical girls trembling and collapsing on the ground. Swooping down towards her, pinning her on the ground with her talons, she licked her lips as she looked at the pink-haired girl. “The scent of blood...” she said, her tone deeper, hungrier. One of her claws crept down towards Hope’s midriff, tearing at the cloth of her dress. “It would be so easy to slice you open like a fish and feast on your entrails. Maybe I don’t need all three of you as my—”

“Sparkle Blitz!” The zap of magical lightning landed true, the Peregrine screaming again as she took the air. She had been hurt, that much was clear. Her ascent was erratic and wobbly, but she was still in the game. “Sparkle Blitz!” came the second attack, but this one she saw coming. Leaning towards the wind, the jolt of white-blue lightning barely grazed her. “Sparkle Blitz!” The third jolt of thunder was avoided as well, the Crooning Peregrine dropping into freefall to avoid it, not even glancing at her opponent. She let out another mighty screech to stun the blue-haired magical girl. There would be no further toying with her prey. She’d finish them off and carry one into her nest...

“Sparkle Blitz!”

The lightning bolt hit her directly. Screaming in pain, she missed her target and stumbled onto the ground in a mess of feathers and dust. She didn’t understand; how had her screech failed to stun the girl? Flapping her wings in a desperate attempt to get up, she turned to face her opponent—

Headphones. The girl was wearing headphones. “Sparkle... Blitz!” she said, panting in exhaustion. That was enough. The Lilin was knocked back, too weak to even lift her wings.

“Bloom...” the girl said with a tired voice. “Bloom Cure!”

* * *

Sitting around the unconscious woman, the girls were still in their magical girl forms, finishing up the rest of their lunchboxes. Sky was bruised rather badly; Hope was scratched up, though her wounds had swiftly stopped bleeding. Lux mostly had a wounded pride. They had called an ambulance, not for themselves but for the woman. Leaving her behind in the mountains seemed like a poor idea, especially considering she was still in the nude.

“No,” Lux said, glaring at Hope.

“But...”

“It was Sky who saved the day. Just because you happened to pack headphones with you doesn’t mean anything. It wasn’t even your idea to use them like this!”

Sky was staying out of the conversation, silently eating her brownie.

“Well!” Hope said, still obviously pleased with herself. “I think it was a team effort! We all did our best today!”

Lux shook her head. “This was a disaster. We really need to learn some new tricks. I can’t fight in the air!”

She was right, of course. This was hardly ideal. This had been another uncomfortably close call. Had they been ill-prepared, or simply too weak? Hugging her knees, Fleur looked up at the sky above. How long could they keep this up?


	2. Another Fate

The girl yawns and rubs her milk-white eyes. “You woke up me up.”

The room is, of course, unchanged. The tapestry of threads that surrounds her is both fixed and everchanging. Even a single line is too complex for the mortal mind to take in whole. And it is her job to measure them all.

“It is fine,” she says with a smile. “It was the right time, anyway.”

Stretching and standing up, she pats her white dress to straighten it, walking slowly back to the tapestry, her bare feet producing no noise at all.

“You met with my sister.” A statement, not a question. “She does not like you. I’m surprised she helped you as much as she did.”

Touching a thread with her small fingers, she falls quiet for a while. She tries another. Then another.

“No, of course not,” she says, turning to her visitor with a smile. “Whether she wants to or not is irrelevant. She does not decide on the threads that she weaves. I’m surprised you would even ask. The _Moirai_ do not _choose_.”

There’s a heavy silence.

“I have no such preferences. Why would I? And of course, I would be happy to show you.”

The small girl crosses her arms, humming a strange song to herself. Finally, she picks a thread and pokes at it.

“A practised shot. But she had to be careful, not to hit her friend. You already saw this coming, didn’t you...?” she smiles at her visitor. “Go on. Look.”

* * *

“Good things come to those who wait,” said the voice from above Fleur. There was a short burst of laughter, cruel and delighted. “Mistress told me you would come. I knew I was right in trusting her. We’re going to have so much fun together, my love.”

There was something about her voice that made Fleur’s body tingle and her head fill with static. She wanted to struggle. She wanted to zap the monster, alert her friends, do _anything_ , but she couldn’t move a muscle. She was dangling in the Lilin’s grip like an earthworm, limp and powerless. Higher and higher up into the air she went...

“Dream Wave!” came the voice from somewhere beneath her, so faint Fleur wasn’t certain if she had been imagining it.

“Eh?” the Lilin reacted just in time, swerving to the side to barely avoid the basketball-sized boulder that had been shot out at her. It still grazed her, taking a few feathers with it—but it was far from enough to stop her. Laughing, she beat her wings to rise higher into the sky, getting out of the range of the pink magical girl’s attacks.

“W-wait!” Bloom Hope yelled. “Sky! Try to break free! O-or hold on, we’re coming for you!”

* * *

The Crooning Peregrine sang as she carried the girl in her talons, humming a song of her own creation, every note of her strange melody further sapping strength from the girl in her grip. Five minutes in and her prey had already ceased to struggle. Fifteen minutes, and she had ceased to think altogether. By the time they had reached her nest, she was practically a ragdoll, all light gone from her previously so bright blue eyes.

The little cavity in the mountainside she had chosen as her nest was not reachable by foot. Far from any trails and too high up to be reached with anything short of mountain climbing equipment, the Peregrine was reasonably confident that no-one would be able to find her there. That meant she had plenty of time with the girl she had captured. The other two had seemed cute as well from the first glance, but she wanted to give this one her undivided attention. Her first daughter deserved nothing less.

Laying the girl gently down on the stony floor, still humming, the Lilin crouched down on top of her and leaned in to kiss her cheek. She could feel her heartbeat, hear the rushing blood in her veins, taste her skin as she kissed her. She shivered in pleasure. No, this wouldn’t do—her predatory instincts were strong, but her maternal ones were stronger still. This girl was not food. Prey though she might’ve been right now, she’d make for a predator worthy of her mother soon enough.

Long, silky, sky-blue hair. Slender features, a beautiful face. Bringing a talon up to her chest, she traced a path down, tearing through the fabric of her dress. The girl reacted with a shudder. “Shh, shh. It’s alright, it’s alright,” she sang, peeling the clothes off the girl’s small frame. Her chest was rising and falling slowly, her breaths short and shallow. Her breasts were perky and round, if still clearly developing. The Peregrine cooed. She couldn’t have picked a better girl to make her own. “What’s your name, little one?”

“F...” the girl said, her voice small and weak, her eyes glazed over. “Fleur...”

She was just too precious. With a soft laughter, the Lilin swooped her up with her soft wings, holding her close to her chest, stroking her back with her silky feathers. “I can tell. You’ve been lonely too, haven’t you? It’s alright, it’s alright. I’ll make you happy. I’ll let you become your true self as well...”

The blue-haired girl let out a muffled whine, almost like a protest. That was a bit of a surprise—it hadn’t seemed like she had any thoughts left in her head. At this point, though, it didn’t matter. Hugging the girl even more tightly, the Crooning Peregrine began another song. Dark light surrounded the girl, forming an oval shape around her. Little by little, it began to expand and solidify, the harpy’s feathered wings stroking its calcifying surface. The transparent eggshell turned opaque, with a faint azure tone.

Before long, she was left holding not the blue-haired girl, but a giant egg. Kissing its surface, holding it close and warm, the Peregrine sang softly to it—making sure her voice would be the first thing her daughter would hear as she was reborn.

* * *

“We aren’t going to find anything like this. We need to go back.” Effie wasn’t one to give up easily. but the sun had long since gone down and was no sense in stumbling around in the night. The only light they had was what little their mobile phones could produce, and though they’d run around for hours, they hadn’t gotten any sense of where Fleur or the Lilin could be.

Sofia turned back to Effie, sniffing. “You... you can go back. I’ll stay here. I’m going to find her, no matter what it takes.”

“D-don’t be an idiot! You wouldn’t stand a chance alone in the dark!” Effie said, looking up at the pink-haired magical girl. “Let’s just go back. Let’s ask Trudi for help and come back better equipped, alright? We can spend all day searching for her tomorrow. It might not be too late.”

“B-but it also _might_ be too late!”

Effie had no response for that. There was no telling how long they had. Neither of them wanted to experience the Auric Padishah all over again, certainly not with Fleur. “I... fine. Let’s keep searching,” she said, relenting. “We’re going to find her. No matter what.”

* * *

Fleur felt... warm. Curled up in a fetal position, she found herself unable to move, unable to even open her eyes, barely able to _think_. She could still hear the song, faint and distant as if filtered through a thick wall, but still seemingly vibrating every molecule of her being. It pounded in her head, tried to lull her back into a blissful slumber, but it wasn’t quite enough to smother the anxiety in her heart.

She tried to focus on something. Her friends, her magic, anything. She was still in her magical girl form, and she could feel the strength within, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t gather any of it up. Only with some genuine effort, she managed to force her body to kick against the smooth walls of whatever it was she had been trapped within. It felt all wrong; there was squishy sound, her leg displacing something as it moved. Only then did she realise she was floating in something, immersed in thick liquid.

In... albumen. She could vaguely remember being in the winged Lilin’s embrace; she was inside of an _egg_. Feeling a little bloated and sick for a bit, she coughed. Something came up, buttery slime from deep within her lungs. _No... no. There has to be something I can—_ but the song was taking its toll on her. One more desperate kick later, her thoughts slowed down and her consciousness left her again.

And as Fleur slept dreamlessly, her small body melted away from inside out, turning into rich, golden yellow yolk, vibrating softly in tandem with the Crooning Peregrine’s song. Though her friends hadn’t given up on her just yet, Fleur Caron could not be called human anymore.

* * *

The Peregrine had kept up her soft song for all night long, and she could’ve gone for much longer still, but it appeared there was no need for that. In the wee hours of the morning, the azure-shelled egg began to finally move, something stirring within. Overjoyed, the Lilin began the final stanza of her song, calling her daughter forth from her shell.

That seemed to have an effect. With the efforts intensifying, a few cracks appeared on the smooth shell of the egg, a single wing finally bursting through. Beautiful sky-blue feathers, smooth and brilliant in a stark comparison to the Peregrine’s own brown ones; though still wet with albumen, they were the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.

The rest of her soon followed. Her little legs breaking the shell, light yellow talons with sharp black nails, gleaming in the morning sunlight; her wings brushing the broken shards of the egg aside, her gaze meeting her mother’s eyes for the first time. Her skin was pale, if flushed. Her eyes were steely silver like her mother’s, with two dark pupils and a dazed look to them. Her lips sported a blue hue, the dark blue pattern around her eyes resembling smoky makeup. Though recognisable as the girl she had been before, the newly hatched Lilin had little trace left of her former humanity.

The Peregrine could feel her heart skipping a beat when the hatchling’s eyes finally met her own. The look of utter love and desire, naked adoration and hunger was everything the Lilin could’ve hoped for. The full, swollen feeling in her breasts told her what she needed to do. “Of course, my love. You must be hungry. Come, let your mother take good care of you...”

Lifting up the newly born Lilin like a precious porcelain doll, wrapping her soft feathers around her and cradling her close to her chest, she could feel her lips pushing against her engorged nipple, beginning to greedily, hungrily suckle down her mother’s milk. The mother and daughter were both in a state of perfect bliss as they embraced, enveloped in each other’s wings.

* * *

“They’re getting close. You can sense them too, can’t you, love?”

“Yes, mother,” Fleur responded, nuzzling against her mother, stroking her back with her soft, blue wings. The memories of her former life were blurry at best, but she can’t imagine she had ever felt this happy and content before. Her belly full of creamy milk, basking in her mother’s warmth, unconditional love between them. The fact that those meddlers were here to interrupt their time together was an annoyance, but—it could be fun as well.

The Peregrine leaned down to kiss her daughter on the top of her head, eliciting a happy coo from the hatchling. “What do you want us to do with them? Would you like some sisters, my love?”

Fleur thought for a moment before shaking her head, hugging her mother tighter with her wings. No sisters. Not just yet. She wanted to keep her mother all to herself for much longer than this.

“...Very well,” the older Lilin relented. “No sisters. How does a pet sound like, then? All for yourself, to keep you company while your mother is busy...”

“...Yeah,” Fleur said. “That sounds nice.”

Another kiss. “I’ll let you take your pick then, darling.”

Though only half-remembering the blurred faces of the girls she’d once called her friends, it wasn’t difficult for her to reach her decision. Looking up to her mother, she gave her a predatory smile.

* * *

Sofia had been the first to sense the Lilin’s presence. Only when they had gotten significantly closer to the peak had Effie sensed it as well: it was getting close. The mood was dark: it wasn’t just one presence they felt, but two. The other one, almost certainly, had to be Fleur.

“It might not be too late,” Sofia said again, seemingly more to herself than to Effie. By using Bloom Cure, corruption into Lilin was reversible, assuming even a single bit of the original soul was left. The Peregrine herself would a lost cause by now, having already made another Lilin; but given how unlikely it was that Fleur would’ve had the time to kill or corrupt another person, there should still be enough of her left for her to be saved.

There was a distant, shrill scream. The Lilin was descending upon them from above, her brown wings spread wide as she glided through the air, seemingly dive-bombing the pink magical girl. Gritting her teeth, she thrust her palms forward. “Lux, she’s here! Dream Wave!” The Peregrine was more agile than Sofia had expected. With surprising grace, she swept to her left, avoiding the pink waves of magic with ease.

Effie grit her teeth, her body tense. She had no means of ranged attack, but perhaps if she jumped at the exact right moment to kick the stupid Lilin in her face as she swooped down, even she could—

“Lux! Look out!” came a cry from Sofia. She was pointing somewhere. Towards the sun? Blinded by its glare and unsure what she was supposed to be on the guard for, she tried jumping back...

Burning hot pain ravaged her body. She wanted to scream, but no sound came out. There was a rasping sound when she drew in breath, followed by a violent cough of blood. She could hear a horrified, desperate scream from Sofia’s lips—it was unlike any sound she’d ever heard her make. With her vision growing dark, shock numbing her body, she tried to gather her focus, to get some sense of bearing despite the pain... but as her limp body landed on the rocky ground below, she lost her very last chance to do so.

* * *

There was blood in Fleur’s talons, her heart singing with dark joy, the thrill of the hunt. The yellow-costumed magical girl died the moment she hit the ground, a glazed look in her eyes, her stomach and lungs pierced through. And the sound that her friend made, that cry of anguish and despair... it awoke something inside of her. An itch between her legs, her thighs already growing wet with arousal.

She had claimed her first prey. Though she’d supped deep from her mother’s breasts, she could already feel the pang of hunger, a desire to descend upon the still-warm corpse and feast on her. But that would come later, for the other girl still remained. Letting out a triumphant screech, she circled back towards Sofia.

There was no fight left in the girl anymore. Her face pale and wet with tears, she ran towards the corpse of her friend. “F-Fleur, what have you... what have you done?!” she cried, paying no attention to the brown-winged Lilin behind her, laughing before letting out a paralysing screech. Sofia’s legs growing limp, she fell on the ground, trembling in place.

“Go ahead and take her, my love,” said the Peregrine. “I’ll bring our meal. Today, there’s going to be a feast.”

* * *

Panting and moaning, Fleur twisted and squirmed as Sofia’s wet tongue lapped at her folds. The cinnamon-haired girl’s eyes were blank, hope and sanity long since left her. Worshipping her mistress was all that she was good for now. Well, that, and eating; but though she might still one day become a meal for the two harpies, Fleur quite liked having her around.

Of the other girl, only some scattered bones around the lair remained. Fleur’s mother had eaten the lion’s share. It was a fair trade. As delicious as fresh meat had been, Fleur yet preferred her mother’s milk, and after she had feasted on the small girl and absorbed the magical energy left in her body, it had become richer and sweeter still.

“Mm... a-ah, that feels nice...” Fleur mumbled, her legs parting a bit further to give her pet an easier access. It hadn’t taken all that much singing to shatter her sanity and drive her to a point of no return. Though then again, Fleur suspect, she had been broken before the song had even started. That made her giggle. “You poor thing. I just want to gobble you right up...”

Sofia twitched, looking up to the young Lilin’s face with a pale face. “Please... please don’t eat me,” she mumbled in a trembling voice, a lump stuck in her throat.

“If you do a good job today, maybe I won’t,” Fleur responded, her silver eyes narrowing. Her pet nodded quickly, tears falling down her face as she leaned back down to resume her work.

The blue-winged Lilin climaxed soon after, snuggling up close to her pet’s warm body and enveloping her in her wings, listening to her rapid heartbeat as she slowly fell asleep. Though she loved her mother even more, she had to admit—Sofia was precious to her too.


End file.
